I pollinate right up till the beginning of Autumn... that way they have three months to mature (they need 120-140 days... some species even less) and it brings me up to a perfect time to harvest hips at the beginning of winter to begin stratifying right over winter. You need to have a contigency plan in place in case you get early germinations. Multiflora-like seeds and the 'Papageno' seeds began germinating for me after only 8 weeks in the fridge this season... so they go put into a small mini greenhouse in a warm place to finish the job (which is why my little polyantha and multiflora seedlings are 3ft tall now... trimmed them down to about 20cm today to encourage branching). On the Teas... seeing as this is he first year I've had them I'm interested to see how they fair during a Tassie winter. Reports from O/S are that in climates where they are evergreen and flower all winter they pollinate all year round and hips still form in the winter... just more slowly and with reduced germinability.

Thanks for that info Simon. I will do as you do & keep going until early Autumn. I am still chasing a "Coral Meidiland" x "Grimaldi" cross...timing is everything! LOL.

I will be very interested in your findings with regard to the tea roses. It may seem - by my crosses - that I am out for "Boof-headed" hybrid tea type roses but that is far from true. Great new tea roses (if that is your aim) would be awesome IMO & I would happily grow them.

After I find out what methods work for me here I will begin crosses with species roses & I also have an interest in miniatures & single roses of any type. And then there are the stripes...

Damo, I concentrate mainly on Tea and DA crosses. This year I pollinated the first flush in September - mainly Duchesse de Brabant x Abraham Darby. The hips are looking fat and healthy. Someone - was it you Simon - said Tea hips take longer to ripen. The Teas I pollinate later in the year (autumn) tend to stay green. But I'm still pollinating every day because it's an addiction

Dave... have you got Pierre de Ronsard? It's such a strong rose down here... I have been wondering how it would go on either Teas or DAs. I've got pollen now that I'll be putting onto Scabrosa or Ann Endt but think I'll try it on Othello this year too.

Planted out some OP Frau Dagmar Hartopp the other day too from Woolmers.

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Hi Dave. I might have to investigate tea roses again. Are they easy to work with? I suppose they are the same as most other roses! I have read a lot about their use in breeding programmes of late. It is bout time a little refinement & grace came back to the rose IMO.

I find 'Mutabilis' difficult to work with Damien It flowers all the time, produces truck loads of pollen, forms OP hips... but I can' get the seeds to germinate and I can't get its pollen to stick... hopefully by trying as many things as I can on easier germinators I can get at least something...I really want to get a plant of 'Rouletii' so I can put 'Mutabilis' on it to try for a miniature version of 'Mutabilis'.

Hahaha Simon. I dream of a mini-"Mutabilis" too. It is the only reason I am about to sow 60+ seeds of "Angel "Wings" roses! Not good about "Mutabils" not co-operating though. I bet one of us will beat it into submission.

I dream of a rose that grows like "Maggie" with flowers like "Sally Holmes" but the colour of "Julia's Rose" with tan stripes & maroon stamens like "Dainty Bess" & I'm not dying until I get it! Hahaha...

Anyway, I am off to check my rose seedlings for slugs & do a patrol of the yard for wallabies/ kangaroos. Grrrrrrrrr.

Well you have been busy Simon!I don't have Pierre but I have got two of Meilland's Maggie (which Damo talks about on another thread) Does well here too and is a superb cut flower. I've used it for breeding, but none germinated.

From what I saw of the spectacular Pierres in the Tamar Valley, it doesn't perform nearly as well here. A friend has one nearby, and there's lots of them at the Hunter Valley Gardens, where they are sprayed and picked over every five minutes LOL. Looks OK, but as I said, nothing like where you live - AKA Rose Heaven:)

Hi Dave... guess it highlights that there really is no such thing as a 'one size fits all' rose... anywhere!

Have you ever used 'Gertrude Jekyll'? I bought a plant of it because I've always loved the look of it and intend to make mine a large shrub... I've always read that it makes poor growing, weak seedlings, however, I notice George Thomson has used it in making a very Tea-looking variety (with Tea-ancestory through 'Anna Oliver') called [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] and I really like the look of it.

I agree Damien... your OP 'Papageno' seedlings look very good (I'm a sucker for semi-doubles) and think some ground coul dbe made using 'Papageno' with some of the species roses to act as a bridge cross... doesn't seem to like diploid pollen so far though

I noticed a bud forming on another "Papageno" seedling today & I am looking forward to seeing the flower for the very first time (it has been a long wait; buds have formed before but were damaged by insects).

Damo... I also recommend you put 'New Dawn' onto 'Nearly Wild' or the other way around (or both). Did you know that 'New Dawn' and 'Nearly Wild' both have 'Dr W. Van Fleet' as a parent? NW gets its colour/pattern from 'Leuchtstern'? The shared lineage might make for some successful combinations.

Hmmmm I might just do that Simon (NW x ND only I think)...scale "New Dawn" down a bit. I love "Nearly Wild". I have it as a standard (which I am not a big fan of) but it is amazing. I am almost tempted to put some in with your other cuttings???

Before I forget, I have never seen so much pollen from a rose bloom as I saw on R. setigera. It went everywhere. I put 3 blooms upside down in a small plastic container & it covered the bottom in no time.

I have 'Nearly Wild' already as a small cutting... it's struck and is growing... slowly... will need to target it with some more water over the next few weeks It's a triploid too that is not overly successful as a seed parent according to those that have tried it O/S. It has only one listed descendent (not a great sign). I wonder if 'Leuchtstern' is in Australia? It might be worth going back to it instead.

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Damo wrote:Before I forget, I have never seen so much pollen from a rose bloom as I saw on R. setigera. It went everywhere. I put 3 blooms upside down in a small plastic container & it covered the bottom in no time.

Do that with 'Temple Bells' and you will see the same thing... most species seem to be like that actually.